Holika Dahan is an essential story in Indian Mythology, and it marks an important festival in Indian tradition. There are various versions of the story of Holika Dahan that involves king Hiranyakashayp, Prahalad and Holika. However, in all the versions, the final message states that the good always triumphs over the evil.
Here, we have a description of the Holika Dahan story to give you complete information about the story of Holika and Prahalad!
The story begins with the demon Hiranyakashayp who was an arrogant king. He captured the entire earth and commanded everyone to worship only him. However, he had a son named Prahalad who refused to worship him and prayed Lord Vishnu instead.
Hiranyakashayp was very disappointed and tried several ways to make his son worship him,b ut nothing worked. He also ordered many of his servants to kill Prahalad, but Lord Vishnu always saves him. Finally,Hiranyakashayp called his sister Holika to kill Prahalad. Holika had a blessing from a blessing that made her immune to fire. That’s why Hiranyakashayp devised a new plan to kill his son Prahalad.
When Holika visited her brother, he asked her to sit on fire with Prahalad on her lap. That way, he will burn in fire,a nd nothing would happen to her as she was immune to it. Holika agreed to do that. Hiranyakashaypwas assured that Lord Vishnu wouldn’t be able to protect Prahalad this time and his son would finally die.
The day of Holika Dahan arrived, and she sat on a pyre with Prahalad on it. After that, she ordered the servants to light the fire so that Prahalad can be burnt. However, something surprising happened. Holika was burnt to ashes contrary to what Hiranyakashayp had thought.
Holika started shouting because she was burning in the fire while Prahalad continued chanting the name of Lord Vishnu and nothing happened to him. After the whole episode, Prahalad came out of the fire unharmed.
Later, they found out the reason why Holika got burnt despite her immunity that she had received from the boon. According to the legend, Holika was immune to fire only if she was exposed to it alone. Since she sat with Prahalad, her immunity of fire did not work, and she was burnt to ashes whilePrahalad was honest in his prayers, so Lord Vishnu saved him.
Therefore, the name Holiis derived from Holika. The story behind Holika Dahan shows how evil cannot survive for a long time. Honesty and goodness always win over evil. Holika is celebrated every year one day before Holi. In the festival, people burn a pyre of wood remembering Holika. It is believed that with the fire on the day of Holika, the evil is burnt and the goodness prevails.
The story of Holika Dahan, therefore, holds a lot of significance in the Indian tradition and people do their own little Holika Dahan every year to burn away all the evils from their lives.
Currently, Holika is celebrated in almost all the states of India one night before Holi which is the festival of colors. These days people make a bonfire remembering the story of Prahalad and Holika to celebrate the victory of goodness. They also have music and dance activities organized around it to make it more fun and joyous.
Although the festival is more popular in North India, these days people in the South also celebrate it with a lot of vigor. Here is the list of top 10 places to celebrate Holi. All the apartment complexes have Holika committee that takes care of the lighting, music,and dance around the bonfire. It is interesting to see the joy amongst people when they celebrate this festival.
However, amidst the dance and music along with the bonfire, it is also important to remember the story of Prahalad and Holika. Prahalad’s faith in Lord Vishnu saved him from the evil acts of his father. Also, it is something commendable that the little boy Prahalad did not fear his father and refused to worship him instead of Lord Vishnu.
Hence, this story has a lot of things that we can learn from in our daily lives. Faith and fearlessness are one of the most important virtues that we must live with on a daily basis.
